The Daily Grind
by Sushi Chi
Summary: Derek secretly looks forwards to mornings, to see what new little message Stiles left him.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf**  
**A/N: Sam made me write it. She's to blame.**

Derek was used to waking up before Stiles. It was rare that Stiles would be up at the same time as Derek. Usually if Stiles was about the house when Derek woke, it was because he had stayed up all night. Whenever Derek found him like that, he'd sigh fondly and grab a blanket from the foot of the bed, a quilt that had survived the fire. Unfolding it, he'd sneak up behind Stiles who would undoubtedly be pouring himself another cup of coffee and wrap it around him, his arms following the blanket.

He didn't mind those mornings, when Stiles would lean into the blanket and allow Derek to bundle him up and drop him off on the sofa while Derek went out on his morning run. He'd come back and then after making Stiles eat something, would let him escort him to bed in order to get some proper sleep.

But those mornings happened about once a month.

All other times, Derek would get up and stand in front of their fancy coffee pot with all the settings and buttons while Stiles would sleep in. He had tried to talk Stiles out of getting the fancy coffee machine, saying that Stiles wouldn't be awake enough in the morning to not make it explode, but then Stiles pointed out that he had Derek in the mornings to make coffee.

Derek couldn't argue that.

He'd start a pot of coffee and while it was percolating, he'd go out on his run. Once inside, he'd drink a glass of water before grabbing a black coffee mug. Stiles had bemoaned the plain coffee mugs, "What about the character of the mugs?" Stiles protested. "Stiles, I can't deal with your fancy ass coffee pot as well as loud mugs. We're having these plain black ones."

But then one morning, Derek opened the cupboard and saw that the coffee mugs had been changed out. They were still black, yes, but they had some sort of coating on them and it had some white writing in chalk on it. Shaking his head he saw that the writing was Stiles'.

'Shut up, you'll love these look we can write morning messages to each other'

Rolling his eyes, Derek poured himself some coffee. Drinking his first cup, he noted that Stiles' cup had the same treatment.

The next morning Derek's cup said 'This means you can write on mine and leave me messages'

Derek didn't leave him a message. He liked the look of plain black cups.

'Fine, be that way'

Stiles hadn't mentioned the coffee cups to him, not beyond the notes that were written on them. They talked about normal things, groceries, dinner dates, the pack, work, what evil monster has come to Beacon Hills, but not the coffee cups.

Over time, Derek had an array of messages from Stiles.

'Dinner at dad's', 'kiss me with your mouth open', 'pick up milk today', 'wake me up before you go go', 'hurry up you don't want to be latte', 'shut up my joke was funny', 'all I need is another piece of your heart', 'I want to wake up to sex please', 'I can't decide what my favorite thing about you is', 'you have a beautiful soul', 'I like my men like I like my coffee - in a cup!', 'I plan on building a blanket fort today'

Often it would have a drawing as well, or just be a drawing. A cartoon wolf, a penis, a smiley face, some flowers, a celtic design.

Derek never knew what his cup would look like in the morning. But Stiles always knew, his was black.

Then it changed. Just for a few days, the routine changed. Derek had to leave to find out information on the latest baddie, and so Stiles the morning before Derek left he had told him that he'd miss him and loved him.

Stiles rolled out of bed, blinking heavily. Derek wasn't there to greet him with a cup of coffee. Slumping his shoulders, he trudge downstairs and realized how right Derek was about the fancy coffee pot. After fifteen minutes of cursing at it, he finally got it to spit out some coffee. But then he opened the cupboard and had to stand there not moving, because his cup, not Derek's said 'I'll miss you too'


End file.
